I should not have played The Stanley Parable. Chances are that you shouldn’t play The Stanley Parable. I’m glad I played The Stanley Parable. Chances are you will be glad you played the Stanley Parable.

It would be fitting to end the review there. Because that is just the sort of crazy-pants madness that The Stanley Parable embraces.

In The Stanley Parable you may or may not play a guy named Stanley. I still don’t really know. But who (or who you might not) play is not important. What is important is what The Stanley Parable is trying to explain to you. Video Games are broken. How they are constructed to give you the feeling that you have some sort of direction in how things play out is a lie. The Stanley Parable made me look at Bioshock: Infinite differently than I would have if I had not played Stanley’s adventure. It was strange to see the tropes that The Stanley Parable pointed out in play in a triple A title.

I have a mountain of notes from my several times through The Stanley Parable. But I can’t really talk about any of them. Not even the unreasonable amount of time I spent standing in a janitorial closet. Or the time it asked me to push a button over and over and I did it. I can’t even mention what happened when I unplugged something I am not going to give a name too.

Narrators in games can be hit or miss. The one helping — or hindering — you along The Stanley Parable is a hit. A Bastion level hit. His purpose is to guide you through the game how it is supposed to be played. You can do that if you want. You will have a nice experience. The joy I found in The Stanley Parable was NOT doing what he was telling me too. It lead to the best moments in my adventure.

He even got so mad at me he kicked me out of Stanley. It resulted in a hilarious exchange between the narrator and Stanley.

What’s even more impressive is that The Stanley Parable Demo is an entirely different experience from The Stanley Parable. You can get it for free, play it for free and experience all the weirdness in The Stanley Parable… for free! If you are at all into games that step outside what gaming is then looks back at itself, then The Stanley Parable is for you. If you are not into all of that, then The Stanley Parable is for you. The Stanley Parable is for everyone! It’s just fantastic. Go play it!

Did you have your mind bent by The Stanley Parable? Leave a comment below, or hit me up on twitter and tell me about it. Don’t forget to join the Did Not Finish Facebook page. Also, feel free to Email me. If you are on Raptr look me up.

About Donald Conrad

Donald Conrad is an avid father and a dedicated gamer -- or maybe that's the other way around. He loves his games, and he loves his family, and he's pretty sure he loves sleep, even if he doesn't remember what it was like. Follow his life confusion on Twitter @ConManEd